Quarantine Leopard Wrasse

Akrite

Akrite

New member
Can a leopard wrasse be quarantined without sand? I bought one then realized they like to sleep in sand. Will I have any problems?
 
Yes. With no sand, they will almost certainly damage their mouth and perish. However, if you get a tupperware container filled with sand, you may be ok.
 
My QT is kept BB because I treat all my fish with cupramine and prazi. I could skip the cupramine but the prazi for 2 weeks is a must. I'm thinking they travel in bags without sand and I've only seen 1 wholesaler but I Don't recall seeing any sand in those tanks. What do u think?
 
You got 1 answer and I will confirm. Shipping a Leopard Wrasse without sand is not the same as housing it in QT without sand for weeks. Without the sand, you will do more damage than good to the wrasse possibly even have it not survive the process.
 
Many of us do not QT these wrasses because they are very fragile. QT without a very fine sandbed will most likely result in a death of the animal.

Some may have luck with one particular fish not "needing" a sandbed, but I'd say the likelihood of that is very low, around 1/20.
 
IMO, Shipping and stress are the big killers of these fragile fish. They are better off going straight into the display tank. Chances of them making it through QT are slim.
 
Trust me I know how fragile this fish is. I would like to quarantine it but if it becomes too difficult I'll place him in my DT. If I add a container with sand to my QT will it restart and begin to cycle?
 
Some collection stations now are starting to put a small piece of filter floss in the bag with leopards wrasses. This way in the bag they try and burry them selves in the floss and not the corner of the bag. Ive seen them come out of Africa, red sea and Sri Lanka like this and the survival rate is much higher. Even at Wholesalers here in Miami, they are always kept with a small amount of sand. If you use dry sand I dont think youd have a problem with a cycle.
 
I just have mine coming out of QT today. I had a tupperware with 3 inches of sand in it. It sometimes will have trouble finding it because it's raised 4 inches high from the bottom of the tank. Mine keep trying / testing the bottom of my fish tank even it gets the sand bed. It survived the 2 weeks QT but hasn't started eating yet. I hope it'll make it once it gets in my DT.

Steven
 
Well one of the highly occurring problems with leopards is damage to their mouth from trying to bury themselves when they cannot. I hope yours makes is piusma, but its behavior contraindicates such.
 
I would just put sand in your QT and only treat with prazi. Prazi treatment is fine with sand in the tank. Really copper is too but you have to sacrifice that sand and monitor copper levels during treatment in case the sand binds any - but thats something you should be doing anyway.
 
I have had this QT for months with no sand, will adding sand cause it to cycle? Should I just add sand or live sand?
 
i put mine straight into my display for this exact reason. next day he was healthy and eating like a champ. i fell this is one of the few cases you should skip qt altogether
 
+1 on the quarantine methods towards leopards,usually they will start accomodating to their new soroundings after 1 week and they start eating. Expect them to hide in sand or live rocks,never quarantined my wrasses.
 
straight to the display tank and you will have a tenfold better chance of their survival .they usually wont make it through the QT process as it is very much to stressful for them .
 
If you add dry sand you will possibly see a cycle but live sand from your aquarium would not, I believe. I have not used any kind of filtration medium except a sponge before so I can't tell you what will happen for certain. Definitely get something in there for the fish to bury in. I lost a gorgeous 6" male of a different burying species because he broke his beak trying to bury on glass.
 
I qt'd two 2" leopards in a very established 10 gallon with a 2" sand bed for about a month. I recommend Caribsea Livesand. It seems to cycle instantly and add to the nutrient processing in the tank. I qt'd mine to make sure they were eating, not so much for disease.
 
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